The untold story of the first Italian-Turinese female lawyer: Netflix’s The Law According to Lidia Poet

ABSTRACT

The Netflix nineteenth-century period drama The Law According to Lidia Poet presents the adventures of a young Italian law graduate in her pursuit of solving murder cases. Lidia Poet is not a fictional character, but very little is known about her journey to become a lawyer- and the series only adds a little to this knowledge. This review has several aims. First, it will reconsider the implications of reel history. Second, it will add some context to Netflix’s introduction of Lidia Poet and compare her experiences accessing the legal profession with her English colleagues, such as Bertha Cave and Gwyneth Bebb. Attention will be paid to the courts’ rejections of their appeals.

KEYWORDS:

• Lidia Poet
• Italy
• legal profession
• female lawyers
• reel history
• England
• Eliza Orme
• Bertha Cave
• Gwyneth Bebb
• Law Society

A myth¹ Elizabeth Lesser challenges in her book Cassandra Speaks is the one on Pandora.² The Greek poet Hesiod wrote the tale in the eighth century BCE. It is considered the analogous Greek story to Genesis; it explains how men got their intelligence and how women were given to humankind as a punishment. According to the tale, the gods donated presents to Pandora:

Zeus gave her a foolish and idle nature

Aphrodite gave her a beautiful evil not to be withstood by men.

Hermes gave her a shameful mind, deceitful nature and a tendency to speak lies and crafty words.

Hera gave her the woman’s curiosity.³

It seems that Netflix gifted Lidia Poet, like Pandora, the same ‘presents’ mentioned by Hesiod.

The Netflix period drama The Law According to Lidia Poet⁴ is a six-part episode where a nineteenth-century woman, Lidia Poet, investigates murder cases. The unique aspect of the story is that Lidia Poet is a real person, and she was the first woman to join l’Ordine degli Avvocati (the Bar Association) of Turin,⁵ at least until the Court of Cassation revoked her membership.

This is a glossy type of production, not typical of Italian television. Perhaps the producers were not expecting an Italian-born viewer with popular history research interest to evaluate their work. Indeed, I find it challenging to recommend watching this⁶ unless for the mere enjoyment of Italian acting and flair. However, reviewing the drama is an opportunity to do several things: to reflect on the merits and discredits of reel history, to better introduce Lidia Poet, and provide a comparative context of those first women rejected by the respective laws, to join the legal profession.

The Netflix storyline justifies Poet’s unofficial engagement at her brother’s law office by presenting an uncanny and deceitful individual, reflecting the title ‘The Law according to Lidia Poet’. Her anti-hero persona is only rectified at the end of each episode once she resolves a miscarriage of justice. In the last episode, we learn that her appeal against the Court of Appeal’s revocation of her membership to the Albo degli Avvocati (Register of Lawyers) has been rejected by the Court of Cassation. Finally, about to leave forever for America with one of her two lovers, she is met by a cheering crowd, her brother, and the other lover. Then, we are left uncertain whether she will go after all – opening the opportunity for a second season.

Historians have debated frantically on what history does when it is put on film.⁷ One of the main concerns is that it is argued that most people will learn about history from TV.⁸ This may be particularly so now when Netflix offers a greater range of period dramas than we have ever known. There is even an attempt to diversify productions, such as Korean and Colombian.⁹ The old debate has engaged with the question of accuracy and to what extent it matters. On its extreme side, opponents, such as Louis Gottschalk, suggested that motion history should be first criticized and revised by a ‘reputable historian’ before being released to the public;¹⁰ on the other hand, supporters have resented this ‘watchdog’ approach, and as Maureen Ogle put it:

I didn't know that having a PhD gave historians the credentials to function as art critics. What's next? How about fiction? After all, many novelists set their stories in the past, too. Should we start monitoring their work as well?¹¹

Although this tension seems to have died out, keeping a critical check on any historical output, even in the context of postmodern history (i.e. anything goes),¹² is fundamental for various reasons;¹³ hence this review. First, whichever era the drama is set in, past, present, or future, this is still a form of entertainment, an artistic output. Toplin encourages us to recognize and embrace the knowledge limitations that might come with this;¹⁴ after all, also the limits of written historical knowledge have been debated by historians for decades.¹⁵ History is a reconstruction of events;¹⁶ whether we like it or not, it is technically fiction. This is particularly so when writing history with few existing records. Natalie Zemon Davis’ The Return of Martin Guerre, in the written form and as a movie, is on point here, where she warns readers, ‘what I offer you here is in part my invention but held tightly in check by the voices of the past.’¹⁷

Toplin also suggests that cinematic representations aim to address issues concerning current society (the viewers) rather than functioning as historical documentaries.¹⁸ Rosenstone adds to this by suggesting that,

The power of the history on the screen emanates from the unique qualities of the medium, its abilities to communicate not just literally […], and not just realistically […] but also […] ‘poetically and metaphorically.’¹⁹

To grab attention (and secure bums on seats), the symbolic and metaphorical cues are taken from the cultural world of the viewer. Familiarity is key to helping make sense of ‘distant, exotic, and bizarre’ historical ‘spectacle’.²⁰ Indeed, The Law According to Lidia Poet belongs to what seems to be a new sub-genre; it does not sit alongside, for example, Downton Abbey, Peaky Blinders and the latest productions on Vikings and Saxons tales available on Netflix. Instead, it fits with dramas such as Bridgerton, The Empress and several Korean period dramas; we can also add the new BBC’s production of Great Expectations.²¹ These productions bring into the story features that are unequivocally modern, and not only soundtracks, but humour, style of language, and the use of actors and actresses from a broader multi-ethnic background. All these might have in common a sense of ‘do not take me too seriously – just have fun’. Still, the documentary director Ken Burns makes a good point when he says that reel history gives us ‘the past as a source of reflection’.²² The cross-temporal/cultural makes the drama about us, the viewer – we can almost see ourselves in that context.

So, what is my qualm with Netflix’s The Law According to Lidia Poet?

Lidia Poet is a real person; however, she is one of those many individuals left invisible by the pages of history. Some information has been uncovered with a chapter by Mossman²³ and, recently, with three short biographies in Italian.²⁴ These might not place her on the history map, but certainly, a Netflix production will, will it not? My answer is NO. The lack of historical knowledge about Poet means that the viewer will take any portrait of her for granted. The production aims to connect with the modern viewer by injecting sensual sex scenes, modern slang and swearing into this nineteenth, early twenty-century story. If viewed critically, it is hoped, at least, that these are used metaphorically to showcase Poet’s liberal views on the role of women in society and the workplace. However, while the modern slang (for those who get it) is amusing, the ‘fact’ that Poet has an active (and visible to the viewer) sex life with two lovers is less flattering – it would be naive to assume that modern cultural perception on sexual norms has achieved freedom from prejudice and stereotypes.²⁵

Instead of focusing on her fight against misogyny and inequality, the production focuses on her character, making her an anti-hero. However, in a letter to an acquaintance, Poet reveals that the respect gained by colleagues was due to her careful balance of the social constraints affecting her; for example, she never accepted the company of fellow male students when alone and when out and about, she and her sister were always joined by a chaperone.²⁶ Her great-grandson, Valdo Poet, met her at the age of 7, and he confirms that she was known for being elegant, serious and reserved.²⁷ Indeed, Netflix’s version of history makes Poet even more invisible. Like many other women in her generation, the engagement to improve the lives of the less privileged sections of society is usually overlooked.

Like Eliza Orme in England,²⁸ Poet was also actively engaged with social causes. Her degree dissertation in 1881 was a ‘Study on the condition of women concerning women's right […] to elections’.²⁹ In 1885 she started her engagement to improve prison conditions and attended her first International Penitentiary Congress in Rome; there, she gave a presentation on education in prison.³⁰ In the 1890 Congress in St Petersburg, she gave a paper on the need to reduce prison overcrowding.³¹ Subsequently, in 1895, she was awarded by the French government the honorary title ‘ufficiale dell’Accademia’ for her engagement with this cause in Paris.³² She continued presenting her reasons for better prison conditions at conferences in Brussels in 1900, Budapest in 1905, and finally, London in 1925.³³ In 1904 she published an evaluation of the government’s reform of social benefits.³⁴

Poet helped in organizing the first Women's Congress in Rome in 1908. This was sponsored by the magazine La Donna; Poet was responsible for writing the ‘legal questions’ section, reporting that she presented, at the Congress, the motion on the right of women for the legal custody of children.³⁵ Then, in 1910, she was involved with the National Council of Italian Women to present to the government a legislative reform concerning the welfare of the youth.³⁶ In a conference in Turin in 1914, Poet gave a lecture on the aims and causes of the International Council of Women;³⁷ a month later, at the Women’s International Congress in Rome, she motioned to improve the youth’s social welfare.³⁸ In 1918, as representative of the Opere Federate di Assistenza (Federated Works of Assistance),³⁹ she became a Patron in the commune of Pinerolo (her home town, in the province of Turin) for the ‘material and moral assistance of war refugees’.⁴⁰ Finally, in 1922 Poet became the president of the Pro Voto Committee in Turin; she was recognized as a ‘distinguished lawyer who, since 1883, defended the cause of women's suffrage, honour, and pride of Italian feminists and throughout Europe.’⁴¹

The producers of The Law According to Lidia Poet, did acknowledge Poet’s struggle to be admitted to the legal profession. However, this can benefit from some context. Attending university was still in its infancy when Poet completed her law studies.⁴² Still, it was not as unusual as a decade before; the struggle to be accepted by the relevant profession was also not uncommon – this is something that Poet shared with many women in England aspiring to become lawyers. One of the first official rejections was made in 1903 to Bertha Cave’s request to be admitted to Gray’s Inn in London. Little is reported on the tribunal’s five minutes deliberation of the seven judges proceeding the case. The decision was informed by a written recommendation by the Benches to refuse her admission because the regulations of the Inns of Court ‘indicate that males, and males alone, were to be admitted’; subsequently, the tribunal said that it refused to set a precedent.⁴³ A motion followed at the Union Society of London’s annual ladies’ night a month after; the majority voted against the tribunal’s decision, where the need to allow female legal representation for ‘women criminals’ was recognized.⁴⁴ However, unlike Cave,⁴⁵ Poet was already halfway through the system: she had completed her law degree⁴⁶ and the required period of apprenticeship, and she passed the state examination.⁴⁷ Also, unlike Cave, the deliberation committee accepted her membership to Turin’s Bar in 1883, arguing that antiquated rules limiting women’s practising law do not fit the current legal framework.⁴⁸ However, this decision was not without drama: two dissenters threatened to resign. Indeed, Poet had been a lawyer for only three months before Turin’s Court of Appeal revoked her membership upon request by the Public Prosecution office.⁴⁹ This request indicates explicitly that it ‘reserves the right to give reasons’;⁵⁰ the Cassation’s rejection of her appeal is likewise laconic, and it can be summarized in one sentence: if the current law does not explicitly give women the right to practice law, it means that this right does not exist.⁵¹

Similarly to Poet, Gwyneth Bebb challenged the refusal to join the Law Society in London in 1913; both cases left court transcripts. Judgments such as these have been commonly interpreted as misogyny in action.⁵² However, Olgiati proposes that additional factors might have driven the courts’ decisions, such as the opportunity to show control over the profession.⁵³ The present review adds to this thought by suggesting that this was also an opportunity for the profession – represented by the courts – to show control over the universities. I discuss elsewhere the struggle and the tension between the Law Society and the Bar and university’s (formalized) law studies, particularly from the 1880s; put simply, both professions refused to share the education and training of lawyers to be with the universities.⁵⁴ As for Italy, Olgiati explains that the Legal Profession Act 1874 requirement to have a law degree as a prerequisite for practising law was simply an added technicality to limit the gifting of legal titles to members of the nobility.⁵⁵ In other words, the formalized university law curriculum in Europe during this period gave anyone who was not, to use the English term, a Gentleman (women and anyone else), a chance to study law systematically. Thus, it meant that the privileged hobby of being part of an exclusive club (without actually practising the profession) was being threatened.⁵⁶ Indeed, in a debate at the Chamber of Deputies, the Honourable Agostino Bertani, a physician, motioned against the decision in the Poet case, asking: ‘Is it possible that another hidden cause, which is not the fear of ridicule in seeing a woman wearing a gown, but the fear of seeing the number of gowns increased, has driven the recent decisions?’.⁵⁷

The fact that Poet, Bebb and future colleagues were women gave the courts a ‘justifiable’ legal reasoning to belittle the significance of university qualifications.⁵⁸ The courts recognized how highly qualified were Poet and Bebb. The Court of Appeal said that Bebb was ‘at least equal to great many, and, probably, far better than many, of candidates who will come up for examination’;⁵⁹ the Court of Cassation said that Poet ‘applied herself to practical studies with lively commitment and intelligent industriousness, demonstrating a singular and distinct aptitude’.⁶⁰ But all this, as the Court of Appeal put it, ‘is really not for us to consider’.⁶¹ The professions could have only won the battle against the universities by capitalizing on one of the hottest social debates of the time: women’s enfranchisement. Both courts, although representing two different legal systems, one civil and one common, drew on the same limitation on the interpretation and application of the respective laws; that is, if Parliament was not explicit to include women in the letter of the statute, it meant that it did not intend to do so.⁶² The reality is that the respective Parliaments were not in the position to ‘intend’ to exclude women from the Italian Legal Profession Act 1874 and the English Solicitor Act 1843; this is because women have not been in the position to study law up to 1876 and around 1880 respectively officially.⁶³

The ground of appeal in Poet concerned the violation of several civil rights in interpreting the Legal Profession Act 1874; Bebb challenged the interpretation of the word ‘person’ in the Solicitor Act 1843. Poet’s appeal, written by her, breaks down the poor propositions made by the Court of Appeal; her writing shows a mastery of the law. In summary, she reasoned how the Court of Appeal’s decision violated and misapplied at least 17 Articles of at least eight pieces of legislations.⁶⁴ Concerning the suggestion that the Legal Profession Act 1874 does not explicitly refer to women hence endorsing their traditional exclusion from the profession, she concludes that:

The law expressly and tacitly abrogates the Roman laws on the profession. Expressly: Article 67 states that all laws and regulations in force remained repealed with the implementation of this law. Tacitly: by regulating the entire matter and declaring, moreover, explicitly in Article 1, that this law would regulate the exercise of the profession.⁶⁵

Bebb’s appeal was somewhat more straightforward, focusing only on interpreting the word ‘person’.⁶⁶ The argument indicated that section 2 of the Solicitors Act 1843 sets that only persons qualified as such can act as barristers and solicitors. Section 48, on the interpretation of the words in the statute, indicates: ‘every word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to a female as well as a male’. Bebb’s counsels emphasized that if there was still any doubt about the meaning of ‘person’, the Interpretation Act 1889 clarified that any Act passed after 1850, such as the Solicitor Acts of 1860 and 1888, should be interpreted in such a way that ‘words importing the masculine gender shall include female’.⁶⁷ Even in the above-synthesised summary of Poet’s and Bebb’s grounds of appeal, it is difficult to see a justification for rejection; and yet, rejection did follow.

The Court of Cassation judgment was gender-biased and short. The Court did not dispute the civil rights equality of all citizens; however, it explained that even the law could not eliminate ‘natural’ inequality, such as the one brought about by gender differences. It argued that this inequality is regulated by social and private rights (that is, morals and customs), and these would apply accordingly to the laws created by the legislature. The Court recognized that legislation would normally use the masculine gender to include females. However, given that the law does apply different legal rights to these, it is unreasonable to expect that it will not be explicit when conferring a new legal right, especially when this contradicts custom and traditional practice.⁶⁸ However, the most significant point in this judgment that could have had legal bearing, if true, was the submission that Avovcato (the lawyer) is a public profession.⁶⁹ Indeed, the law explicitly excluded women from engaging in any public office.⁷⁰ However, in its decision, the court conveniently ignored the distinction made by the Legal Profession Act between ‘procuratore’ (the civil law ‘magistrate’) and the ‘avvocato’ (the lawyer) – attributing to it, instead, the nature of a public office. As indicated by Poet in her appeal and confirmed by other authors following the judgment, the magistrate’s office is subject to administrative law, like the office of the notary.⁷¹ The Legal Profession Act contrasted these public offices with the private profession of the avvocato.⁷²

Typically in English cases, the judicial reasoning in Bebb’s judgment drew on precedent and case law. The point with the least clarity was the question of public office. Similarly to Italian law, in England, women could not hold public offices; neither Bebb’s defence attempted to refute the claim that the legal profession is a public office – some precedent and a 1729 statute evidenced this.⁷³ Still, the defence attempted to make their case by citing precedent where women fulfilled other public roles –⁷⁴ the Court of Appeal ignored this line of argument. Instead, most attention was directed to the Solicitor Act 1843 interpretation of ‘person’. Despite s. 48 indicating that ‘every word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to a female as well as a male’, the Court of Appeal, like the Court of Cassation, said that this is not applicable in the case of the legal profession because there has never been a female lawyer before.⁷⁵ This reasoning might be weak; however, s. 48 also indicates that the first part of the section is applicable unless ‘there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction.’ It is the word ‘repugnant’ that the court used to substantiate their argument. In short, by citing a few cases that had to do with voting rights and too much reliance on Lord Coke’s reference to the doubtful source of the Mirror of Justices,⁷⁶ the Court of Appeal demonstrated how interpreting ‘person’ in the femininity and thus, allow a woman to access the legal profession, would be ‘repugnant’ to this law.

In concluding this review on Netflix’s The Law According to Lidia Poet, the importance of cinematic history is recognized; it opens visual access to worlds that would have been inaccessible otherwise. It is also recognized that a new sub-genre has evolved, making history sassy, attractive and familiar. However, despite the many social concerns reflected in the life of Poet, the series merely pays lip service to this expectation. What we get to know about Poet from the series adds very little value and reflection to many aspects of our lives that are still affected by tensions concerning gender, sociocultural, professional, (in)equality, etc.

To complete the story of Poet and Bebb, following the appeals’ rejections, both women, each in their way, continued contributing to public life.⁷⁷ Neither of the courts’ decisions were left unchallenged⁷⁸ as the clamour for change grew. The year 1919 brought about this change. In Italy, the 17 July 1919, n.1176 legislation eliminated some of the husband’s legal rights over his wife and removed barriers to entering any profession. In England, the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 revoked the limits to the practice of any profession brought by gender and marriage.⁷⁹ Shortly after, both women’s aspirations came true; Poet became avvocata and Bebb a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn.⁸⁰

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The translations in the text (from Italian to English) are my own unless specified otherwise.

2 Elizabeth Lesser, Cassandra Speaks: When women are storytellers, The Human Story Changes (Harper Collins publisher, 2020).

3 Ibid 36 (As narrated in the text by Lesser).

4 The Law According to Lidia Poet. Created: Guido Luculano and Davide Orsini (production: Groenlandia 2023).

5 Netflix and other writing suggest that Poet was the first female lawyer in Italy; however, in response to this, the lawyer Daniella Trezzi, a descendent of Poet, specifies that she was not the first Italian Lawyer in Italy, but the first female to join Turin’s bar (Valentina Fiordaliso, ‘Lidia Poet, per Netflix qualche problema di Narrativa?’ (Programmazione TV, 27 Feb 2023) <https://www.programmazionetv.com/news/lidia-poet-netflix-narrativa-critiche-storia> accessed 08 May 2023. Olgiati indicates that the first woman to gain a law degree in Italy and in Europe was Marisa Pellegrina Amoretti in 1777 at the University of Pavia, Italy (Vittorio Olbiati, ‘Professional Body and Gender Difference in Court: the case of the first (failed) woman lawyer in modern Italy’ in Schultz, U., and Shaw, G. (eds), Women in the world's legal professions (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2003) 423.

6 It is worth noting that it has received good reviews and high scores on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15441160/ and <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet/s01> accessed 26 June 2023).

7 Geoffrey B. Pingree, ‘Review: Visual Evidence Reconsidered: Reflections on Film and History’, (1999) 21 The Public Historian 99, 103.

8 Brian O’Neil, ‘Reel History: In Defense of Hollywood’, (2004) 26 The Public Historian 94, 94; von Tunzelmann, Alex, Reel History: The World According to the Movies (Atlantic Books 2015) 1.

9 Netflix, Period Dramas <https://www.netflix.com/gb/browse/genre/12123> accessed 02/05/2023.

10 Cited in Robert A. Rosenstone, ‘Reel History with Missing Reels?’ (1999) 37(8) Perspectives on History <https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/november-1999/reel-history-with-missing-reels> accessed 03/05/2023.

11 Maureen Ogle, ‘Letters to the editor, Reel History Revisited’ (1999) 37(6) Perspectives on History <https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/september-1999/letter-to-the-editor-reel-history-revisited> accessed 03/05/2023.

12 Alun Munslow, ‘Letters to the editor, Reel History Revisited’ (1999) 37(6) Perspectives on History <https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/september-1999/letter-to-the-editor-reel-history-revisited> accessed 03/05/2023.

13 See, for example: Ancient Apocalypse. Producer: Bruce Kennedy. Presenter: Graham Hancock (ITN production 2022); David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything, A New History of Humanity (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2021).

14 Cited in Brian O’Neil, ‘Reel History: In Defense of Hollywood’ (2004) 26 The Public Historian 94, 94.

15 For example: Collingwood, Robin George. ‘The limits of historical knowledge’ (1928) 3 Philosophy 213; Foucault, Michel, ‘The archaeology of knowledge’ (1970) 9 Social science information 175; Nichols, Tom, The death of expertise: The campaign against established knowledge and why it matters (OUP 2017).

16 Tosh, John, Why History Matters (Macmillan Education 2019) 16; Robert A. Rosenstone, ‘The Reel Joan of Arc: Reflections on the Theory and Practice of the Historical Film’ (2003) 25 The Public Historian 61, 73.

17 Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre (Harvard University Press, 1983), 5.

18 Robert Brent Toplin, ‘Cinematic History: Where Do We Go From Here?’ (2003) 25 The Public Historian 79, 80.

19 Robert A. Rosenstone, ‘The Reel Joan of Arc: Reflections on the Theory and Practice of the Historical Film’ (2003) 25 The Public Historian 61, 65.

20 Ibid 69.

21 Bridgerton. Created: Chris Van Dusen (production: Netflix, 2020); The Empress. Created: Katharina Eyssen (Production: Netflix, 2022); The Moon Embracing the Sun. Created: Kim Do-hoon, Lee Seong-jun and Jun Su-wan (production: Pan Entertainment, 2012); Great Expectations. Created: Steven Knight (production: Scott Free Productions, 2023).

22 Rosenstone (n 19) 70.

23 Mossman, Mary Jane, The First Women Lawyers: a Comparative Study of Gender, Law and the Legal Professions (Hart Publishing 2006).

24 Chiara Viale, Lidia e le altere (goWare & Guerini Next 2022); Ilaria Lannuzzi and Pasquale Tammaro, Lidia Poet: La prima avvocata (Edizioni Le lucerne 2022); Cristina Ricci, Lidia Poet (Graphot 2022). While writing this review, I came across other academic writing (by Italian scholars) that has mentioned and analysed the story and context of Lidia Poet; these are drawn upon in this review.

25 See discussions in Hilary M. Lips, Sex and Gender: An Introduction (7th Ed, Waveland Press 2020); Klein, V., Imhoff, R., and Reininger, K.M., ‘Perceptions of Sexual Script Deviation in Women and Men’ (2019) 48 Arch Sex Behav 631; Kendrick, Caterina, Katie MacEntee, and Sarah Flicker, ‘Exploring audience engagement and critical narrative intervention with the Celling Sex film’ (2021) 22 Health Promotion Practice 33; San Filippo, Maria, Provocauteurs and Provocations: Screening Sex in 21st Century Media (Indiana University Press 2021).

26 Mossman (n 20) 250.

27 Alessandro Zoppo, ‘La legge di Lidia Poët, storici e discendenti bocciano la serie: "Le hanno reso un pessimo servizio"’ (popcorntv.it, 27 Feb 2023) <https://popcorntv.it/serie-tv/la-legge-di-lidia-poet-storici-discendenti-stroncano-serie/72625?refresh_ce> accessed 8 May 2023.

28 Orme was the first female graduate of law at the University of London; although she refused membership by the Bar, she had a prolific public and legal career. Leslie Howsam, ‘Legal Paper Work and Public Policy: Eliza Orme’s Professional Expertise in Late-Victorian Britain’, in Heidi Egginton and Zoë Thomas (eds), Precarious Professionals: Gender, Identities and Social Change in Modern Britain (University of London Press 2021); Susanna Menis, ‘A Microhistory: Eliza Orme, the first English female law graduate and the ‘circumscribed success’ claim’ (Forthcoming) Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities.

29 Lidia Poet, Studio sulla condizione della donna rispetto al diritto constituzionale ed al diritto administrative nelle elezioni, Dissertazione per la laure in giurisprudenza (Universita di Torino, 17 Giugno 1881, Biblioteca Alliaudi di Pinerolo, available to view on lidiapoet.it, https://www.lidiapoet.it/i-suoi-lavori> accessed 9 May 2023).

30 ’Congressi Internazionali Penitenziari’, La Stampa, Gazzetta Piemontese (24 November 1885) available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/dissero-di-lei> accessed 9 May 2023.

31 Lidia Poet, Rapport. Available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/congressi-penitenziari> accessed 9 May 2023.

32 ‘Un’avvocatessa Pinerolese ufficiale dell’Academia francese’, La Stampa, Gazzetta Piemontese (12 January 1896) available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/dissero-di-lei> accessed 8 May 2023.

33 Available to view in French on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/congressi-penitenziari> accessed 26 May 2023.

34 Lidia Poet, Studio delle riforme sugli ordinamenti della beneficenza (1904) Biblioteca Alliaudi di Pinerolo, available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/i-suoi-lavori> accessed 8 May 2023.

35 Lidia Poet, ‘Sezione Giuridica’ (La Donna, Torino Maggio 1908) available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/congressi-femminili> accessed 9 May 2023.

36 ‘L’avvocatessa Lidia Poet’ (La Donna 20 Maggio 1910) available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/dissero-di-lei> accessed 9 May 2023.

37 Lydia Poet [sic], Conferenza (Torino, 4 Aprile 1914, Pubblicata a cira di amiche e di ammiratori, Tipografia ‘il Risveglio’), available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/congressi-femminili> accessed 9 May 2023.

38 Lydia Poet [sic], ‘Atti del Congresso internationalle femminile, Assistance morale et légale des mineurs en Italie’ (Roma, 16-23 Maggio 1914, Torre Pellice, 1915, Tipografia Alpina di Augusto Coisson, pp.393–399) available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/congressi-femminili> accessed 9 May 2023.

39 Inter-institutional coordination of subjects active in assisting soldiers at the front and their families, as well as in propaganda supporting the war effort (Teresa Bertilotti, ‘L’esperienza femminile della profuganza e la sua rappresentazione’, in: Matteo Ermacora (eds), Le «disfatte» di Caporetto. Soldati, civili, territori 1917–1919 (Edizioni Università di Trieste 2019).

40 ‘Decreto Prefetto di TorinoCotituzione del Patronato per l'assistenza ai profughi del comune di Pinerolo’ (26 June 1918), Biblioteca Alliaudi di Pinerolo, available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/i-suoi-lavori> accessed 8 May 2023.

41 ‘Diciassette anni di lavoro e di lotta per la causa suffragista, Comitato pro voto donne’ (Torino, Feb 1906 – Dic 1922, A cura dell Comitato Pro Voto Donne, 1923, Torino) Biblioteca Alliaudi di Pinerolo, available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/congressi-femminili> accessed 9 May 2023. A detailed and contextual discussion of Poet’s many other engagements is provided by Francesca Tacchi, Eva togata: donne e professioni giuridiche in Italia dall'Unità a oggi (UTET libreria 2009).

42 University studies became open to women in Italy with the enactment of the Public Education Act 1876. University lectures were open to women since the 1870s, but only in the 1880s could they graduate with an LLB – Eliza Orme being the first one in 1888 (Menis (n 25).

43 ‘Women and the Bar’ The Times (Thursday, December 3, 1903) 10.

44 ‘The Admission of Women to the Bar’ The Times (Thursday, January 21, 1904) 7.

45 Cave stated to the press that she would try to seek admission to the Law Society instead (to become a Solicitor) and that she will start studying for the LLB degree at London University (‘Women and the Bar’ The Times (Thursday, December 3, 1903) 10.

46 This was a requirement for joining the legal profession set by the Legal Profession Act 1874.

47 Olbiati (n 3) 426.

48 Ricorso, All’Eccellentissima Corte di Cassazione in Torino, della signiorina Lidia Poet, contro la decisione dell’Ecc^MA Corte d’Appello (14 Novembre 1883, Torino, Stamperia dell’Unione Tipografico-Editrice, Dicembre 1883) 6. Biblioteca Alliaudi di Pinerolo, available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/lavvocatura> accessed 18 May 2023.

49 Olbiati (n 3) 427.

50 Ricorso, All’Eccellentissima Corte di Cassazione in Torino (n 45) 26.

51 Ibid, 10, 49–55.

52 See for example articles in Judith Bourne (ed), First Women Lawyers in Great Britain and the Empire Record Symposia (Volume 1, 2016, St. Mary’s University, London).

53 Olbiati (n 3) 427.

54 Susanna Menis, ‘The Liberal, the Vocational and Legal Education: A Legal History Review - from Blackstone to a Law Degree (1972)’ (2020) 54 Law Teacher 285.

55 Olbiati (n 3) 425.

56 (author) (n 51); Paolo Alvazzi del Frate, ‘Sulle origini dell’ordine degli avvocati: dall’Ancien Régime all’Italia liberale’ (1994) VI Panorami, riflessioni, discussioni e proposte sul diritto e l’amministrazione 17, <https://www.avvocati-imperia.it/ordine%20avvocati.pdf> accessed 19 May 2023.

57 Atti Parlamentari, Camera dei Deputati, Legislatura XV, 1^a sessione, Discussioni, 2^a Tornata del 2 Giugno 1884, p. 8498. Available to view on lidiapoet.it <https://www.lidiapoet.it/lavvocatura> accessed 18 May 2023.

58 Unlike Cave, Poet, Bebb and future colleagues were all university educated.

59 Bebb v Law Society [1914] 1 Ch. 286 [294].

60 ‘Corte di Cassazione di Torino. Udienza 18 Aprile 1884. Parte Prima: Giurisprudenza Civile e Commerciale’ (1884) 9 Il Foro Italiano 341, 342.

61 Bebb (n 56) [294].

62 Corte di Cassazione di Torino (n 57) 348; Bebb (n 56) [297].

63 The University of London allowed women to matriculate onto the LLB from 1880 (author (n 25)).

64 Ricorso, All’Eccellentissima Corte di Cassazione in Torino (n45) 11–24.

65 Ibid 22.

66 Bebb (n 56) [288].

67 Interpretation Act 1889 c.63, s.1 Rules as to gender and number.

68 Corte di Cassazione di Torino (n 57) 350–51.

69 Ibid 354.

70 Tacchi (n 38) 4.

71 Ricorso, All’Eccellentissima Corte di Cassazione in Torino (n 45) 11–24, 19; Case commentary by G. P. in Corte di Cassazione di Torino (n 57) 345; Alvazzi (n 53).

72 Profession Act 1874, art.13: the profession of lawyer is incompatible with that of notary, stockbroker, broker, and any non-free public office or employment.

73 Hurst’s Case (1661) 83 E.R. 304; In Re Dutton [1892] 1 Q.B. 486; the regulation of the profession by Geo 2. c.23 1729 CAP. XXIII required attornies and solicitors to be qualified and take an oath. According to the Court of Appeal, this indicated that the profession was of a public nature (Bebb (n 56) [291]).

74 Bebb (n 56) [287–88].

75 Ibid [290].

76 A law text attributed to Horne Andrew, 1642, written in Anglo-Norman French; a later edition was curated by Whittaker W.J. and Maitland F.W. in 1895 for the Selden Society, available on the Internet Archive <https://archive.org/details/mirrorofjustices00hornrich/page/xiv/mode/2up> accessed 01 July 2023. Tucker’s research reveal that several English scholars considered the text as for example, ‘a legal romance’ and ‘a practical joke in our legal literature’ (Tucker, E. F. J. ‘The Mirror of Justices: Its Authorship and Preoccupations’ (1974) 1 Irish Jurist 99, 99.

77 See Rosemary Auchmuty, ‘Whatever Happened to Miss Bebb – Bebb v the Law Society and Women's Legal History’ (2011) 31 Legal Studies 199.

78 Tacchi (n 38) 16; Auchmuty (n 74).

79 See a detailed discussion on the debates in Parliaments prior to the passing of this law, in Tacchi (n 38); Mari Takayanagi, Establishing, ‘the Known: the Parliamentary passage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919’, in Bourne (n 49).

80 Tacchi (n 38) XVIII; Auchmuty (n 74) 222.